Was Chris McCandless Prepared When He Went Into The Wild? Essay

These anecdotes serve as contrasts to Chris’ adventures. Many of the other individuals are described as foolish, arrogant, or mentally imbalanced. Krakauer makes it very obvious that he does not believe that their negative traits applied to McCandless in any way. At the end of the chapter he goes as far as to explicitly state, “... unlike Waterman, McCandless wasn’t mentally ill. And unlike McCunn, he didn’t go into the bush assuming someone would automatically appear to save his bacon before he came to grief. McCandless didn’t conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn’t incompetent—he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he were. And he wasn’t a nutcase, he wasn’t a sociopath, he wasn’t an outcast. McCandless was something else—although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim, perhaps.” (85) This is one of the most blatant statements of the author’s true thoughts on Christopher McCandless and for good reason. Krakauer has just expounded the stories of some of Alaska’s worst wilderness casualties and he wants it to be flawlessly clear that the purpose of these anecdotes is to delve into a discussion about how Chris wasn’t just a casualty or a rebel or a fool

The author of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer shows the mystery of the novel and tries to unravel it throughout the story. He believes that Chris may have been aware of a long line of characters from American literature who rejected society and its values. Chris took

In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless takes a wild journey. Although some believe that his journey and thought process was noble and courageous, he was actually extremely fatuous throughout his journey. Many people that Chris met along the way made remarkable attempts at making him aware of the dangers that he would surely face in Alaska. Chris McCandless knowingly stepped into the treacherous wild without being prepared for what reality would throw his way.

​In the novel Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless departs on a dangerous journey in order to fulfill his dreams. Leaving his past behind, McCandless travels across the country and eventually ends his journey in Alaska. McCandless exhibits bravery and kindness by performing jeopardous tasks and building friendships along the way.

Jon Krakauer, the author of the book, Into the Wild only know about Chris McCandless is an explorer traveling to Alaska search for himself reborn. However he isn’t exactly what he really is, but an ignorant, foolish, selfish, and misunderstanding of the world in which he lives. These words that have been used to describe him are based on the idea that he went on a journey to the Alaskan wilderness to seek his own revelation, but not having a firm grasp of reality, he senselessly died a stubborn man, the people mention that he was unprepared to go into the wilderness, didn’t listen to a more experienced person, broken several of state laws, abandoned his family and loved ones, and followed a dream that never existed. Personally believed he is an ignorant fool, selfish, and misunderstand man that throws his life away for nothing but despair.

Jon Krakauer is an author whose work primarily focuses on the wilderness and his experiences. His novel, Into the Wild, divulges into the life of Chris McCandless and his adventures into the wild Alaskan frontier. Chris seeks isolationism from his family and society and goes as far as to change his name to Alex Supertramp so he is not discovered or recognized by anyone. With mere long term survival experience, Chris makes several minor mistakes and dies; unbeknownst to anyone. After discovery, Krakauer devoted several years to Chris’ life story, going as far to use his journalism background to interview any family, friends and coworkers Chris encountered to synthesize a final overview of his life. Krakauer’s relationship with his own father

For someone to have plans to survive in the harsh wilderness of the Alaskan frontier many have said that McCandless was completely un prepared as recalled in the first chapter of the book by Jim Gallien who picked up McCandless outside of Fairbanks Alaska and drove him to the stampede trail, the beginning of Chris’s journey into the wild. “He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much food and gear as you’d be expecting a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip.” (Krakauer 4) Through the research that Krakauer completed we know that Chris was carrying only a ten-pound bag of rice and some paperback books along with other camping supplies. Jim

He underestimates the terrain and climate, and, “…came into the country with insufficient provisions, and he lacked certain pieces of equipment deemed essential by many Alaskans…” (180 Krakauer). Chris lacked the necessities, so it made his survival rate drop. Information is key in the wilderness, which, “not only did McCandless die because he was stupid, one Alaskan correspondent observed, but ‘the scope of his self-styled adventure was so small as to a ring pathetic-squatting in a wrecked bus a few miles out of Healy, potting jays and squirrels, mistaking a caribou for a moose (pretty hard to do)…only one word for the guy: incompetent’” (177 Krakauer). Chris lacked the knowledge needed to survive the Alaskan frontier, which dropped his survival rate.

Jon Krakauer wrote, “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders ... McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme” (Krakauer 182). Chris did not think about dying much before he went to survive in Alaska. Many of Chris’s critics thought he was just a kid who overestimated himself and underestimated the difficulty of living in the Alaskan bush. McCandless went into the bush seeking answers and I believe he found his answers, but met fatality before he could leave. Chris McCandless was not ill-prepared for his odyssey and he was not a kook.

Chris McCandless, also known as Alex Supertramp, was an ignorant and blatantly stupid child trapped in his own reality, and he used his traumatic childhood to try and justify the poor decisions that would eventually lead to his untimely demise. Chris McCandless was just an ordinary guttersnipe that John Krakauer wrongfully glorified in his obsession called Into The Wild. In April 1992, Chris ran from all of his problems and heads into the brutal Alaskan wilderness unequipped and alone. Before he wandered into Alaska, he donated twenty four thousand dollars to charity and left everything else behind. Four months later, the inevitable happened and he died. He starved to death after he thought it was a good idea to bring only a ten pound bag of rice to nourish him for one hundred days. Chris had a book on what plants to eat and not to eat, yet he still ate one of the plants with poisonous seeds that would prevent digestion. Chris’s lack of intelligence, selfishness, and cowardice is what makes him thickheaded.

There had never been and there would never be someone exactly like Chris McCandless. Chris has a middle class background and stands out from his peers because he believes that society restrains his independence. He leaves his past life and wanders America heading toward the lonely Alaskan wilderness to find who he really is. He discovers ways of moving to Alaska despite leaving behind all of his possessions and social status. Chris’s sincerity and integrity earn the respect of the people he meets. He inspires people leave behind their old life and explore the country by documenting his experiences. Chris loves to challenge himself and after succeeding academically he finds purpose through self deprivation. Chris chooses Alaska because its'

“The one thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance”, Albert Einstein. Many people who have heard the story of Chris McCandless have argued that McCandless was arrogant and ignorant to do what he did. But his attempt to survive in the Alaskan Wilderness has also inspired and spoke to countless people in many different ways. Some people actually believe he was intelligent to do what he did, but, in my opinion, Chris was actually a very brilliant person, he was very successful in his college classes and had straight A’s the last semester before he left. I feel that this is what led him to believe he could take on the Wild with the little preparation that he had, it was his arrogance that led to his ignorance of the wild, and the people

I am a reader and a fan of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. I have read and learned about your brother Chris McCandless’s adventure life and his role in your life. Chris McCandless had been your protector since when you were a child. As both Chris and you grew up, the bond between both of you had become so strong that Chris shares his feelings and secrets with you. Nevertheless, when he embarked on his adventure after graduating from college, he did not contact his family ever again including you, who he had been caring for ever since your childhood. Although we know that he made that decision so that no one would find out where he is, were you upset about Chris for not having enough trust on you to not exposing his whereabout after contacting

We all have three different faces, the one we show our close ones, the one we show to strangers, and the one we present to ourselves. In Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Chris acts different with different people, when he is with his family he is cold to them and doesn’t like to spend time with them or with strangers he outing and ready to do everything but the face that is most true to himself is the one that he only knows of. Chris’s true-self shows signs of multiple mental illnesses such as borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia. Chris leaves his old life behind to take on the identity of Alex Supertramp. As Alex, he spends his time on the road exploring.

Robert AcostaFebruary 20, 2015Per. 5Into the Wild AssessmentChristopher McCandless was born February 12, 1968 in El Segundo, California. He is son to Walt McCandless and Wilhelmina McCandless, who is often referred to as Billie, and has a sister named Carine. When Chris was eight, his father was offered a job as an antenna specialist and they moved to Virginia, his mother also worked for Hughes Aircraft as a secretary.Walt and Billie would later start a successful consultancy firm, unfortunately the work became very stressful and arguments followed. As a student, he excelled, earning A’s in almost every class. He was even the captain of a team of cross country runners, training on paths that would often lead to getting lost, but Chris didn’t